What can you do when the dog you rescue:

• has an irrational fear of nearly everything in the house
• cowers if you walk past him or if you touch him in certain places
• is nervous about his food
• snaps at you in fear when all you are trying to do is make him comfortable
• does not know how to walk on a lead and walks involve zig-zagging from one side of the road to the other
• has no recall

And you wonder whether you have done the right thing in bringing him home or whether his problems are too much to cope with in a family

This was Freddie, a Jack Russell Terrier/ Collie cross aged 9 months when we got him in April 2008. From the way he reacted someone had deliberately and repeatedly kicked him, hit him with hand and stick, starved him and given him no socialisation or interaction. He is now a very different dog. I am not an expert and some of the things that we did may not work with every dog but I was asked to share our experiences with you and I hope that it helps someone else in this situation. I should say that I have older children aged 11 and 14 years when we got Freddie who were used to dogs, very sensible around dogs and I have had dogs in the past although not like Freddie.

1. First of all we gave him time and space – I learnt that this is not a quick fix. Freddie seemed fairly comfortable in our home after the first few weeks but he would still become unexpectedly fearful. I think he was with us around 9 months before this really stopped and he seemed genuinely at ease. To begin with he was very quiet and subdued and I thought he was just a calm dog but looking back I think he was shell shocked as the real Freddie is a bundle of fun and eager to be where we are! So we never forced ourselves on him – we let him come to us.

2. However he had to learn that some behaviour was unacceptable and particularly snapping or any sign of aggression to any of us. He did not give a warning growl although I spoke to our vet who said that he was probably so affected by his previous treatment that he did not give obvious signals so there was no growl or hackles or anything. He would appear to go from nothing to a snap – he never bit. However there were subtle signs – he would stare ahead then move his eyes from side to side (looking for an escape route), lick his lips (the quicker this got the more stressed he was) or yawn. I began to read these signs. If he did snap we would all adopt the same response – stand up straight and then say in a low voice “Don’t you dare” and then send him to his bed. I was unsure about sending him to his bed but it was a safe place for him, we retained control because we taught him early to go to his bed (when we ate or when we went to bed) so it was a command he knew and he always obeyed it.  I had a strict rule with the children that they did not try to touch him as he would just get more frightened and then bite but firmly tell him to go to his bed. We would leave him there until he was clearly back to normal – you could tell by looking at him - this time got shorter and shorter. Once he had been with us a few months he seemed to immediately regret snapping and would stare at whoever had told him to go to his bed until they released him and called him to them. He would then be fine – very anxious to please. The snapping could happen if we walked too close to him when he was asleep or were too loud around him – shouting frightened him or sometimes for no obvious reason. Over the months this has gradually stopped.

3. Some problems we had to deal with straight away as we could not just give him time. One of these was having his feet wiped. He hated it and would snap in a flurry of teeth and noise. Perhaps he had learnt that doing this got people to leave him alone. However he had to have his feet and tummy wiped and we just had to go through it. Basically I would leave his lead on and hold him both by his lead and collar firmly at the back of his neck and stood behind him so that when he went he could not actually reach me. To begin with he went mad but I just held on, when he stopped spoke calmly to him so he knew it was me and continued to wipe.  Once I had finished he got lots of praise and a treat. After about 3 times he stopped the snapping but was still very tense lots of lip-licking and he still does this but I have been able to release my hold on his collar and with loads of praise he puts up with it. I can now throw a towel over him when he is wet and towel him down – he doesn’t like it but he puts up with it.

4. When we started to get problems I saw my vet to make sure that there was no medical explanation – there wasn’t but that could have explained his behaviour. She did say that Freddie wasn’t an aggressive dog – just very fearful at times and to stick with him.

5. I also saw a professional dog behaviourist (Apdt) and I would always recommend doing this. We only saw her once but she has been happy to give further advice over the telephone. She gave us some excellent advice – particularly about the “leave” command, positive reinforcement and distraction. This was brilliant. We taught him leave by exchange so if he had something we wanted – a toy, chew stick or whatever we would hold a treat so he could see it and say “leave “ and when he dropped what was in his mouth we would pick it up and give him the treat. “Leave“ works for everything – leave that dog, leave that sweet paper, leave those people, drop the toy etc. It means stop whatever you are doing and concentrate on me. We can now whisper “leave” and he just drops whatever he has got in his mouth. It also meant that we never get into a tussle with him trying to force him to drop something. This took time because to begin with he did not know what the word meant but lots of treats and just repeating the word eventually worked. The behaviourist also said that he was not aggressive, particularly towards other dogs – the barking was just bad manners and lack of socialisation. The key was to build up the how close we could get to another dog without him barking and to use “leave “ and distraction – treats and toys to stop the barking.  We have found that once he starts barking it is really hard click him back but if we get the distraction in quickly and early enough – it works! We have to practice desensitisation and leave around other dogs each day – I tend to do it during our morning walk when we can guarantee seeing lots of dogs. I do worry that we have a reputation for being the barky dog and mad woman but hey there’s worse things!

6. We also started pet obedience. I took him to begin with and after the few lessons I would come back saying that he was the most badly behaved dog there and I would never get him to walk calmly or sit and stay.  I did wonder whether we would always be the joke in the class or if we would get thrown out. My 11 year old then started with him as he was showing some signs of dominance towards her and they are now brilliant. She can tell him to stay and he won’t move off the spot as she walks around the arena. His recall is brilliant and they just do really well. She does practice with him several times each week.

7. Our trainer recommended the gencon lead which you can get off the internet to help with his lead work. He was all over the place when we first got him. The gencon works like the halti and helps with control. We do not need to use it now but it was really good to get him calmer. I also used a treat as a lure so when he was in heel – lots of praise and a treat – to begin with every few steps and then longer and longer but he had to keep in position and looking up at me to get it.  With my 11 year old he keeps eye contact the whole time – he is not so good with the rest of us as we are not quite so serious about it!

8. We also started agility. This was to help his bond with my son who he snapped at a lot to begin with – he is a teenage boy who naturally makes a lot of noise and thumps about. I also wanted Freddie to have some fun and he loves to run and he is very bouncy. He loves agility and he has built a bond with my son so he trusts him when he asks him to do the course.

9. Our behaviourist and vet also suggested putting him on a low protein diet (less than 20% protein) as that would take the edge off his stress. Freddie has CSJ Lamb Senior/Lite which is a good quality food that you can order off the internet and has a protein level of 17%.  He has put on 3.65 kg in the past year so it seems to suit him. Our vet says he is the perfect weight now. He also has CSJ Calm Down Herbs which is a herbal remedy again to counteract stress. You can also use DAP diffusers or sprays.

10. We also worked at desensitising him to things that frightened him. That was sometimes as simple as ignoring him, for example he was scared of the extractor fan so when I needed it on I just put it on and ignored him as he ran away in fear. He began to realise that I just carried on and that there was nothing to be frightened of. For other things we would gradually get him used to it and give him treats when he was calm around them, so, as an example, my daughter wanted him to run beside her bike. To begin with she just stood by the bike and gave him a treat when he stopped trying to back away. When he was comfortable with that she walked along with me holding him on his lead and her pushing her bike – when he did it calmly she would stop every few steps and give him a treat. Then we moved on to him being fastened to the bike and walking beside her pushing the bike. Then she sat on the bike. Then she freewheeled with him fastened to the bike. All the time stopping every few feet to give him a treat.  He then learnt to watch her as when she stopped he got a treat. Finally he had to get used to the noise of the pedals and the brake. It took about a week in total for him to get used to it doing about 5 - 10 mins each night. He now runs happily alongside her bike – unbelievable for a dog that would not go near a bike when he first saw it. 

11. Recall – not always easy with a terrier and certainly not one who has had limited freedom in the past. We have used a long line – which gives him some freedom and we still have some control. We practise recall on every walk – at least 10 times on each walk, often for no reason (just call him in, give him a treat and let him go off again) or because other people are coming towards us or there are ducks or geese about. He gets a treat every time he comes back. He can now be trusted off lead as long as there are NO deer around. If he does not come when I call I walk off in the opposite direction shouting “this way” and he comes running. It has taken a year to get this!

12. Treats - we have ordinary dog treats for practicing obedience work, learning tricks and coming in from the garden as soon as he is called and “super” treats for recall and distraction around dogs. The super treats include dried tripe (smells awful), dried liver (doesn’t smell too bad but Freddie loves it), and black pudding for dogs (looks awful but does not smell too bad)! 

It hasn’t always been easy but also we have had many more good days than bad. We have all had to get used to each other and Freddie has had to get used to living in a family and for much of the time he did this really well. It just sometimes went wrong and mostly at the beginning. There were times when I did seriously think about returning him to the Dog’s Home as I was worried about him biting my children. However the rest of the family would not have accepted this and my husband (not a natural dog lover) was firmly of the view that we had made a commitment to Freddie and we should honour it. Once I had got over the shock of him snapping I realised that he was not aggressive – just frightened and that he did not really want to bite us because he had the chance and never did.

There are still issues. We are still working on him not barking at other dogs but he is slowly getting better and some of it is just his character – he likes to be noticed! I also wouldn’t go up and stroke him when he is asleep or take his food bowl from him when he is eating (I know I have to work on this) but apart from this he is damn near perfect! He walks around wagging his tail all the time and just looking for affection. My husband stepped over him recently and he just looked up at him and wagged his tail – just happy that he was next to him – not frightened he was going to be kicked. He is a friendly dog who just wants to please but was just too frightened to know what to do to begin with. If you are at the end of your tether with your dog, I hope that this helps and that you find a way through it too.